


shredded red ribbons

by kanjogirl



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-09
Updated: 2013-10-09
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanjogirl/pseuds/kanjogirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you have a soulmate, sometimes you don't know it.  But you know when they go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	shredded red ribbons

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at livejournal. The concept of soulmates always has fascinated me.

There's this line about a red string of fate and how it connects two people, no matter what race, age, nationality--it doesn't matter. Because when your soulmate is born, you'll feel something.   
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
  
Luna Pentecost is all ambition and courage. Some call her too fearless for her own good and sometimes she thinks that's okay because when she steps foot in her jet and flies across the skies, Luna feels a bit fearless.   
  
  
She knows who her soulmate is the moment her baby brother is born. She's three years old when he's born and she holds him within her tiny arms and marvels at the bundle of life, keeping him to her chest with wonder. Luna whispers a promise she'll never leave his side because that's what big sisters do.  
  
  
Years later, Stacker Pentecost watches as a monster ensures the promise of a three year old girl is destroyed. He thinks she's made a sacrifice and never thinks of her as a victim because little brothers will always look up to their big sisters.  
  
  
But the moment she dies, Luna closes her eyes and Stacker shakes with the loss of another half suddenly being ripped from him. He's not sure how he ends up in his own bed that night because the rest of the day is in a blur. He thinks he's still shaking the next day and he has to call Tamsin.  
  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
  
Newton Geiszler can't explain it but sometimes when he's sitting in class through elementary school, he pays a little bit more unneeded attention to the mathematics and feels a love for science. So he delves into biology because that's always fun. He wants to do better at math but he's not all that great at it. But numbers give him a strange comfort and he writes it off as a desire to want to do better.  
  
  
Sometimes, he can feel a strange and dull pain in his right leg and wonders when the hell it will stop because he sure didn't hurt himself. He runs his hand down to ease the pain and sometimes it'll stop and thinks that he did someone else better than he did himself. But it's like a stray thought, something that isn't his own and Newt thinks he's just insane.   
  
  
Sometimes he finds himself wanting to visiting places in Germany or just Europe in general because there's something there for him but he's not sure what.  
  
  
When he meets Hermann Gottlieb, Newt remembers thinking  _Don't leave this one._  So he doesn't because there's a warmth that comes with bickering and long nights discussing whatever comes to mind. And he finds himself smiling for no reason at all.   
  
  
The pain in his leg doesn't go away but he thinks that's all right.  
  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
Hercules Hansen doesn't have a soulmate. At least, not yet. And it's really okay because he's a soldier and soldiers don't need anyone but themselves and an order.   
  
  
But he meets Angela and she's got no one either and it seems just perfect. He tells her stories of the past when she asks him. She asks him never to make sacrifices for her because she knows all about the military and their tendency to throw their own out to the wolves. He thinks he would never have to. So he kisses her and says an I love you because he truly, honestly does.  
  
  
When his son is born, Herc is all quick breaths and his heart thumps because, dammit, he wasn't there! But the entire way to the hospital from work, something is tingling over his skin and he thinks it's just the adrenaline. When Ang is there, holding their baby, something inside Herc's chest explodes and he feels like he's going to cry but doesn't (because that would be weird, right? No? He doesn't know.) as he holds his newborn son in his huge arms.   
  
  
He doesn't know why but the first words he says to his son is, "You're finally here, huh?"   
  
  
Ang gives him a look that says she knows something he doesn't and he wants to ask her why. She smiles and kisses his cheek and he braces her, their son between them and he's never felt happier in his entire life.

 

The day he chooses to save his son, he thinks it's okay if Chuck never forgives him because Angela told him never to sacrifice anything for her and having his other half there, breathing and alive somehow makes it all right. Ang's words still haunt him and Chuck may never understand fully but Herc thinks he may be able to live with himself a little while longer if Chuck is still alive and well.  
  
  
Chuck says something to him in the Drift one day. Says that it's okay but doesn't specify what but Herc pretends. Sometimes Chuck stands a bit closer to his father, even when the bitterness is still there and Herc knows his son can't explain it but they both feel better about everything.  
  
  
When Chuck dies, Herc closes his eyes and imagines the day he had been born. He feels his entire being shake when his son's life is torn from him and he can't breathe.   
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
Sometimes, Mako will feel tired for no reason. She falls asleep in class one day and she swears never to do it again. She takes to late nights, filled with homework and she feels even more tired but she's got to get work done. It doesn't occur to her that the nights the infamous Becket Boys take down a Kaiju, she's more tired than she should be.   
  
  
She watches them on TV once. It's some Live CNN coverage she's watching at home and they're asking Raleigh Becket more questions than Yancy. She glances next to Raleigh, where the older brother stands and at the same time, she glides her fingers across her papers and hisses when she gets a paper cut. At the same time, Yancy Becket winces and his eyes flicker down to his hand, something she only catches for a moment before a new story appears on screen.  
  
  
Mako is in the Academy still, in her bunk and sifting through homework when she feels something rip through her. It grips her chest and then her whole body throbs. She falls to the floor and curls into a ball because all she can think is death and,  _oh, no please don't cry, Mako_.   
  
  
In the morning, she doesn't go in for class and she gives the excuse she's sick but she's still sobbing for someone she doesn't know.   
  
  
Later, when she finds out that night Yancy Becket had perished, Mako runs a hand through her hair to cover how she falters a little because the name somehow resonates with her more than it should.  
  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
Cheung, Jin and Hu don't need soulmates. But then again, not a lot of people do in the first place. Their individual soulmates aren't born when they die.   
  
  
And that's okay because when they reach out together before the final explosion, all they need are each other. Just like always.  
  
  
  
  
\--  
  
  
  
  
Raleigh Becket doesn't have a soulmate. Not yet. Or maybe they've already passed, lost between the times of age and war. He doesn't really care. Because sometimes, when he takes a moment to himself and glances over to his copilot, Raleigh thinks he got lucky.   
  
  
Red strings of fates be damned.


End file.
